Latin School of Chicago

If any student at Latin School has made community service part of her ethos, it is Camden Olson '14. Not only does Camden participate in numerous volunteer efforts around the city, she also creates service opportunities for her peers. In fact, she has been so proactive in enhancing the school's service learning program that she was assigned a dedicated email address: servicestudent@latinschool.org. Camden devotes hours every week to working with a therapy dog at Eden Supportive Living, an assisted living facility for people with physical disabilities in Uptown, and volunteering at La Rabida Children's Hospital on the South Side as well as the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. Freshman year, with classmate Nicky Azar, she helped to start the Kids Initiative for Curing Kids (KICK) club, which focuses on helping children with diabetes by raising awareness and inspiring kids to be active. She organizes fundraisers, leads activities in the lower school and brings speakers to Latin through the club. Related to her efforts with KICK, Camden recently started an after-school program at McCutcheon School called Snacktivities that strives to teach children about nutrition and healthy eating in fun ways. She also sits on a committee overseeing the building of the new pediatric ward of the Rehabilitation Institute and on the Service Learning committee at Latin. "I like helping people and I like sharing my passions with others," Camden said, explaining her commitment. "Volunteering gives me an opportunity to do something I love and help someone else at the same time." Camden's passions mainly revolve around health issues and working with children and dogs. She has been walking her neighbor's dog, Brando, since seventh grade and completed his therapy dog certification sophomore year. Since then, Brando has been Camden's service partner much of the time. is summer she will begin her gap year in Maine, training a puppy to become a guide dog for a visually impaired person and working in a dental clinic on building a public health campaign around the importance of dental hygiene. Enrolled at Princeton University for the fall of 2015, Camden hopes to further pursue her interest in working dogs, specifically by looking at how they can be better utilized in the medical environment. She is especially inspired by recent research on training dogs to detect cancer, allergies and diabetes and by the use of dogs in psychotherapy. Looking forward, the possibilities seem endless for Camden Olson to continue helping people while doing what she loves. n "I like helping people and I like sharing my passions with others. Volunteering gives me an opportunity to do something I love and help someone else at the same time." 27 L AT I N S C H O O L O F C H I C A G O The Dog Ate My Homework! is

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